LESSON XLVIII
THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL OF PERSONAL MORALITY
In treating the lesson for to-day, the teacher will be embarrassed by the wealth of his material. It is important, therefore, that the chief purpose of the lesson should not be lost amid a mass of details. That chief purpose is the presentation of Christianity as something that has a very definite and immediate bearing upon daily life. Christianity is first of all a piece of good news, a record of something that has happened; but the effect of it, if it be sincerely received, is always manifest in holy living.
1. THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS
In the Student's Text Book, little attempt was made at detailed analysis of the apostolic ideal. The defect should be supplied by careful attention to the "Topics for Study," and also, if possible, by the treatment of the lesson in class. First of all, however, it should be observed how naturally the apostolic presentation of the ideal grows out of the teaching of Jesus. The advance which revelation made after the close of Jesus' earthly ministry concerned the fuller explanation of the means by which the moral ideal is to be attained rather than additional exposition of the ideal itself. That does not mean that the apostles did no more, in the field of ethics, than quote the words of Jesus; indeed there seem to be surprisingly few direct quotations of the words of Jesus in the apostolic writings; the ethical teaching of the apostolic Church was no mere mechanical repetition of words, but a profound application of principles. Nevertheless the teaching of Jesus was absolutely fundamental; without an examination of it, the moral life of the apostolic Church cannot be fully understood.
(1) The Inexorableness of the Law.—Jesus had insisted, for example, upon the inexorableness of the law of God. To the keeping of God's commandments everything else must be sacrificed. "If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell." Matt. 5:29. In this respect the apostles were true disciples of their Master. The Christian, they insisted, must be absolutely ruthless; he must be willing to sacrifice everything he has for moral purity.
This ruthlessness, however, this thoroughgoing devotion to moral purity, did not mean in the teaching of Jesus, any more than in that of the apostles, that under ordinary conditions the Christian ought to withdraw from the simple pleasures that the world offers. Jesus himself took his place freely at feasts; so far was he from leading a stern, ascetic life that his enemies could even accuse him of being a winebibber and a friend of publicans and sinners. The fidelity with which the apostles followed this part of their Master's example has been pointed out in the Student's Text Book. The enjoyable things of the earth are not evil in themselves; they are to be received with thanksgiving as gifts of the heavenly Father, and then dedicated to his service.
(2) The Morality of the Heart.—Furthermore, Jesus, as well as his apostles, emphasized the inwardness of the moral law. Here again the apostolic Church was faithful to Jesus' teaching. The seat of sin was placed by the apostles in the very center of a man's life; the flesh and the Spirit wage their warfare in the battle field of the heart. See, for example, Gal. 5:16-24.
2. CONTRASTS
The sharp difference between the Christian life and the life of the world was set forth in the apostolic teaching by means of various contrasts.